Fewer spiny lobsters available locally; state warns diners to only eat the tail

Just as California lobstermen were enjoying one of the best years in history as the value of their spiny lobsters skyrocketed, they were dealt a potential blow on Thursday.

The California Department of Fish and Game issued the highly unusual warning to only eat the tail of any lobster caught in the state after very high levels of domoic acid were found in the organs of the tasty and expensive crustaceans.

The tails, which only contain meat, are perfectly safe to eat, but after domoic acid was found in guts and organs of lobsters, the warning was put out to protect people from potentially eating organs as they dug around in the legs and carapace for meat to eat. Most people only eat the tails.

The warning also includes rock crab.

Sellers are responsible for telling buyers about the contamination. Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin that if eaten by humans can cause illness and in very extreme cases, coma or death.

“We don’t want to discourage people from eating them, but we can’t take a chance that someone would eat the roe or the gonads,” said Kristine Barsky, a biologist with Fish and Game.

The warning was done out of an abundance of caution after the acid was found in a few lobsters off the coast.

Hunter Lenihan, who studies lobsters at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara, said since most people eat only the tails, the warning won’t have much effect on the market, which is having a great year.

“I wouldn’t not eat them because I hate the guts,” he said. “I don’t think it will have much of an impact at all.”

Not many locals were seeing a lot of lobsters anyway.

The price of lobster has shot up so high that many local seafood stores aren’t carrying them and restaurants aren’t offering them because customers would balk at the $29 per pound price tag.

“They are just too expensive,” said Chris Sutton, manager at Sea Fresh restaurant at the Channel Islands Harbor, who this time last year had a tank filled with more than 20 local lobsters. This year the tank is empty. Though he and others can special order them for anyone who wants, they had better be ready to shell out a lot of cash.

The reason is because the local lobsters are part of the global economy.

Many of the clawless, spiny lobsters caught in wire traps are heading to China, where the expanding economy is creating a lot of disposable income.

“It’s the economy in China and they are willing to pay for it,” said Tom Gomes, manager of Catalina Offshore Products in San Diego, which wholesales lobsters from Ventura County and other parts of Southern California to the rest of the world.

Last year, fishermen were selling the lobsters, also called “bugs,” for about $9.50 a pound on opening day. This year, they were getting as much as $17.75.

“It’s a huge market difference,” he said.

In Southern California, lobsters at Thanksgiving and Christmas are as much a tradition for some as turkey is in other parts of the country. Once the season starts in October, you can generally buy them at any local fish market. But not this year.

“We don’t have many because nobody has requested it,” said Cisco Alvarado, who works at the Ventura seafood store Ocean Pride. “It’s too expensive.”

A 2007 study by the California Sea Grant program found that the Santa Barbara Channel region had the third highest value of any fishery from 2000 to 2005, although lobsters only accounted for about 0.5 percent of the total volume of fish caught.

The average annual value of the lobster fishery was more than $2.3 million, according to the report. There are about 50 lobstermen regularly fishing the channel during the season.

But just because the price of lobster is up this year doesn’t mean fishermen are reaping huge profits, said Josh Fisher, vice president of the California Lobster and Trap Fishermen’s Association.

The catch is down this year, he said, so while the fishermen are getting more for their catch, they aren’t pulling as many out of the traps, in part because of the colder water.

Fisher said they’d rather be selling lobsters locally if it made economic sense, but people are eating Maine lobsters because they are cheaper. He’s also worried what may happen next year, when a series of Marine Protected Areas could be implemented along the coast, restricting fishing in some areas.

Paul Knappenberger doesn’t care about global markets and such, he just wants to continue his annual tradition.

This is the time of year when Knappenberger likes nothing better than to head down to his local seafood store, buy a spiny lobster caught a few miles from his Port Hueneme home and throw them in the steamer pot with garlic butter at the ready.

“Last year, I could buy all I want for $18.50 a pound,” he said. But $29 is too rich for him.